wasapi exclusive - quality & stuck autoplay

[urfausto]

hello, i am currently trying the two different output modes and noticed a huge difference between the two (with headphones):
with exclusive i get a softer and lower volume while with shared i get a huge increment in volume and an increment in high peaks and frequencies.

moreover, in exclusive mode, autoplay in playlists will stop working: after one song finish the next one starts playing without a sound and immediatly stops and stays blocked at start point. in shared mode this won't happen.

can anyone please explain why this happens? and which one should i use..

[urfausto]

bump

[Steven]

your best bet is to use the forum search function where you will find this discussed many times

[urfausto]

"In general, WASAPI operates in two modes.
In exclusive mode (also called DMA mode), unmixed audio streams are rendered directly to the audio adapter and no other application's audio will play and signal processing has no effect. Exclusive mode is useful for applications that demand the least amount of intermediate processing of the audio data or those that want to output compressed audio data such as Dolby Digital, DTS or WMA Pro over S/PDIF. WASAPI exclusive mode is similar to kernel streaming in function, but no kernel mode programming is required.

In shared mode, audio streams are rendered by the application and optionally applied per-stream audio effects known as Local Effects (LFX) (such as per-session volume control). Then the streams are mixed by the global audio engine, where a set of global audio effects (GFX) may be applied. Finally, they're rendered on the audio device."

i found this in a different forum, does it mean that exclusive mode is untouched audio while shared is somewhat modified?


update: found here https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=27506.msg153575#msg153575 that actually, exclusive mode really bypasses mixing so it is what i would like to use even if the sound is not smoother as the other output modes. i would like to understand why. possibly depends on the file itself?

[urfausto]

why exclusive mode disables my autoplay!!!  

please give me advices on why the autoplay gets stuck at next song start

[urfausto]

ok from this post https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=28864.msg160796#msg160796 i got that exclusive mode actually bypasses any mixing and the quality interely depends on the file played.


my second question regarding why autoplay gets blocked is still unanswered, i also checked settings from windows as of here https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?topic=117188.0 but they were fine already.

after the 2nd tracks starts, it stays still like this:

[frankz]

Something else is probably trying to play sound at the switch of tracks. What else are you doing when this is happening?

[urfausto]

Something else is probably trying to play sound at the switch of tracks. What else are you doing when this is happening?

i have tried again with everything else closed but the problem persists, now the last sound of the previous songs keeps on repeating constantly...

[frankz]

I'm assuming you've undertaken basic troubleshooting like toggling on and off all of the check boxes under "sound device" in Edit->Edit Preferences->Player in various combinations, messing with the buffer, tried it without DSP or various plugins that may be interfering, etc.

[urfausto]

I'm assuming you've undertaken basic troubleshooting like toggling on and off all of the check boxes under "sound device" in Edit->Edit Preferences->Player in various combinations, messing with the buffer, tried it without DSP or various plugins that may be interfering, etc.

thanks for the input i think i've found what's causing the issue, since i tried once again with playing an album at system restarted i noticed it played correctly, so i unchecked dsp and tracks still played correctly. then i found the defecting plugin and it is this one: https://www.hpl-musicsource.com/software

it is weird because it is even developed for musicb specifically (http://www.acousticfield.jp/HPL/HPL2Processor_with_MusicBee.pdf).

what do you think about it? is there a way to make it work alongside wasapi exc.?

[hiccup]

it is weird because it is even developed for musicb specifically (http://www.acousticfield.jp/HPL/HPL2Processor_with_MusicBee.pdf).
what do you think about it? is there a way to make it work alongside wasapi exc.?

So you were not actually interested in a possible difference in sound quality between Wasapi shared and exclusive, but you are having an issue due to a (rather obscure) plugin.
There is an email address at the bottom of the pdf, you could try to contact the developer of the plugin about this.

[frankz]

If you're just going to run your music through DSP anyway, why are you worried about WASAPI Exclusive?  The whole point of WASAPI exclusive is to eliminate DSP and feed the pure signal to your DAC.

[urfausto]

If you're just going to run your music through DSP anyway, why are you worried about WASAPI Exclusive?  The whole point of WASAPI exclusive is to eliminate DSP and feed the pure signal to your DAC.

hmmm i want to bypass windows mixing. care to explain the road map of the sound signal in a simple fashion? personally i thought it would have been like: musicbee+dsp->headphones (currently) instead of musicbee+dsp->windows->headphones (currently)

[hiccup]

PS,

By keeping editing your posts (even the initial one) after other members replied, you run the risk of making things even more confusing for people who stumble upon this thread.

[frankz]

If you're just going to run your music through DSP anyway, why are you worried about WASAPI Exclusive?  The whole point of WASAPI exclusive is to eliminate DSP and feed the pure signal to your DAC.

hmmm i want to bypass windows mixing. care to explain the road map of the sound signal in a simple fashion? personally i thought it would have been like: musicbee+dsp->headphones (currently) instead of musicbee+dsp->windows->headphones (currently)

What do you think windows mixing is? People avoid it because they don't want whatever DSP it might add.  They want MusicBee -> DAC -> Ears.

There's no point in bypassing windows mixing just to add some other DSP. It's nonsensical.